2000 Honda Accord SULEV Receives Clean Air Award from SCAQMD

25 October 2000
2000 Honda Accord SULEV Receives Clean Air Award from SCAQMD
    LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 The 2000 Honda Accord SULEV (Super
Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) sedan has been awarded the South Coast Air Quality
Management District's (SCAQMD) 2000 Clean Air Award in the category of
Advancement of Air Pollution Technology.  For 2000, Honda was the only
automotive manufacturer selected to receive an SCAQMD award.
    The SCAQMD chose the Accord SULEV as the recipient of this prestigious
award because of Honda's continuing leadership in low emission vehicle
technologies and long-standing commitment to the environment.  As one of the
cleanest gasoline-powered vehicles ever offered in California, the 2000 Honda
Accord earned its SULEV designation from the California Air Resource Board
(CARB) in November 1999 and was the first gasoline-powered SULEV sold in
California.
    "The 2000 Accord SULEV represents Honda's ongoing efforts to reduce
emissions from gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines," said Robert
Bienenfeld, senior manager of Automobile Product Planning for American Honda.
"Honda is committed to bringing advances in low emissions technology to the
market as soon as they are technically possible, and the Accord SULEV was the
first gasoline SULEV on the market when it went on sale in California in
February 2000."
    Building on Honda's advanced Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) technology,
the 2000 Accord SULEV complies with a voluntary tailpipe standard for motor
vehicle manufacturers that is approximately 80 percent cleaner than the ULEV
standard, formerly the most stringent standard for internal combustion
engines.
    Honda has a long history of environmental leadership, which began in 1975
with the introduction of the Civic CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled
Combustion) engine, the first gasoline vehicle to meet the clean air act
standards of 1975 without a catalytic converter.  Honda was first to introduce
a gasoline vehicle meeting California's LEV (Low Emission Vehicle) standard
and the first to voluntarily sell LEVs nationwide.  With the 1998 Accord,
Honda was also the first automaker to sell a gasoline vehicle meeting
California's ULEV standard.  Earlier this year, Honda was the first to
distribute ULEV vehicles nationwide with the introduction of the 2001 Civic.
    The South Coast Air Quality Management District is the air pollution
control agency for the four-county region, including Los Angeles and Orange
counties and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.  SCAQMD, by law,
is required to achieve and maintain healthful air quality for its residents.
This is accomplished through a comprehensive program of planning, regulation,
compliance assistance, enforcement, monitoring, technology enhancement and
public education.